WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Atacama Skeleton 

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. But I'm Josh

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<v Speaker 1>and there's Chuck and Jerry, so you're sitting and forget

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<v Speaker 1>for Dave. This is short stuff, which is off to

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<v Speaker 1>a bad start already.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. And this is the story of the Saddest Skeleton.

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<v Speaker 1>It is really sad. There's like five different reasons it's sad.

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<v Speaker 1>But you can kind of understand a little bit why

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<v Speaker 1>the skeleton would get so much attention. As known as

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<v Speaker 1>the Atakama skeleton, and it was found in the desert

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<v Speaker 1>of northern Chile, Atacama Desert, in an abandoned town called

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<v Speaker 1>Ladnoria back in two thousand and three.

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<v Speaker 3>That's right.

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<v Speaker 2>It's little, very small, about six inches in length or

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<v Speaker 2>fifteen centimeters, and it has a very interesting shape to

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<v Speaker 2>the skull, very conically shaped, and also has only ten

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<v Speaker 2>pairs of ribs where we usually have twelve pairs. And

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<v Speaker 2>so of course right away there were uf people saying

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<v Speaker 2>it's an alien. It's got to be a tiny, little alien.

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<v Speaker 1>There's no other explanation.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, look at that thing. Other people said, hey, not

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<v Speaker 2>so fast. It looks more like a non human primate,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe a shape shifter.

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<v Speaker 3>We don't know.

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<v Speaker 2>From what weird place this thing came from. But that's

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<v Speaker 2>just the beginning of the story, that's all. I don't

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<v Speaker 2>want to ruin anything just yet.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. The skeleton also is not fully skeletonized, like there's

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<v Speaker 1>desiccated flesh attached to tissue attached to it in some

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<v Speaker 1>places too, including the face. And the reason why is because,

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<v Speaker 1>like I said, it came from the Atacama Desert in

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<v Speaker 1>northern Chile. That's one of the driest non polar places

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<v Speaker 1>on Earth, and it can mummify human remains pretty easily.

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<v Speaker 1>It's between the Chilean coastal mountain range and the Andes

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<v Speaker 1>and the town of Lenora, which is situated in the desert,

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<v Speaker 1>was once a mining town, a nitrate mining town. I

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<v Speaker 1>think Saltpeter.

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<v Speaker 2>Actually, yeah, that's right. You love saying Saltpeter.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Why are you gonna say anything else when you

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<v Speaker 1>can say Saltpeter?

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<v Speaker 2>Agreed, It's used as a fertilizer a lot. So they

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<v Speaker 2>abandoned the town in nineteen thirties, I guess, after they

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<v Speaker 2>had mined up all that stuff. So it's, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>long way of saying, it's a very good place to

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<v Speaker 2>preserve skeletons there and just naturally. But not only that,

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<v Speaker 2>but the ancient Centori culture there had a tradition of

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<v Speaker 2>mummifying bodies on purpose through their embalming process. So an

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<v Speaker 2>even longer way of saying that finding something out there,

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<v Speaker 2>it is not unlikely that it would be pretty well preserved.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and not the least of which because of the

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<v Speaker 1>solar radiation there. Apparently it's higher than anywhere on Earth,

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<v Speaker 1>not a lot of water, it's very hot in the day,

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<v Speaker 1>very cold at night. It's like just a perfect place

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<v Speaker 1>to make a mummy. And so in two thousand and

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<v Speaker 1>three the world first heard of the Atikamma skeleton thanks

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<v Speaker 1>to a guy named Oscar Munos who's a treasure hunter,

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<v Speaker 1>who said that he went to Lenoria and found just

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<v Speaker 1>sitting on a shelf in one of the buildings the

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<v Speaker 1>ati Kama skeleton. And most other people say, oh, we

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<v Speaker 1>don't think that you just found this thing on a shelf.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Most other people say, he really dug this thing up

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<v Speaker 2>from a burial site. So that's sad thing number one,

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<v Speaker 2>and no, no number one, as you're not just supposed

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<v Speaker 2>to do that as a treasure hunter. That's not a treasure.

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<v Speaker 2>Sure later on that skeleton was sold to a guy

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<v Speaker 2>named Ramon navia Asorio. He was a Spanish business owner

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<v Speaker 2>and a just collector of oddities. And also, it just

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<v Speaker 2>so happens a president of the Institute for Research and

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<v Speaker 2>Exo Biological Studies, which is a UFO enthusiast organization.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, And so you fologists have like a fairly smallish

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<v Speaker 1>community of people who will actually travel to conferences. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's not a big surprise that navia Osorio met up

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<v Speaker 1>with a guy named Stephen M. Greer, who is a

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<v Speaker 1>very prominent ufologist. I think he must have come up

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<v Speaker 1>in our area fifty one episode because I recognize his name.

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<v Speaker 1>But he is very outspoken about trying to get the

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<v Speaker 1>US government to disclose all of the information they surely

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<v Speaker 1>have on aliens, their awareness of aliens, what really crashed

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<v Speaker 1>and roswell, all of that stuff. And when Greer found

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<v Speaker 1>out that navia Osorio had the Ada Kama skeleton, he

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<v Speaker 1>was like, we have to figure out what this thing is.

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<v Speaker 1>Can I take a tissue sample?

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<v Speaker 2>That's right, and that feels like a great place for

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<v Speaker 2>a break.

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<v Speaker 3>What a cliffhanger? Yeah, we'll be right back, all right.

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<v Speaker 2>So Stephen Greer has gotten in touch with Navaria Assorio

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<v Speaker 2>and said, hey, I got a plan here. Let's get

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<v Speaker 2>this Let's extract some DNA, have it examined for this

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<v Speaker 2>documentary called Sirius S I R I U S. It's

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<v Speaker 2>inspired out of one of my books. We can figure

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<v Speaker 2>out what this thing is like, you know, hopefully full

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<v Speaker 2>bore and we can know for sure.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. And I guess the Serious got publicized enough that

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<v Speaker 1>a guy named Gary Nolan, who's a microbiologist. He reached

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<v Speaker 1>out to Stephen Greer and said, hey, I can help

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<v Speaker 1>you run a genomic test on this thing for your

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<v Speaker 1>movie Serious. Let's do this, And Stephen Greer said great,

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<v Speaker 1>let's I'm sure that was quite unexpected.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And another thing that was unexpected was they found

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<v Speaker 2>that the DNA was quote modern, abundant and high quality

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<v Speaker 2>and is human. There's no doubt about it. So obviously

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<v Speaker 2>this was not an alien being. They published this research

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<v Speaker 2>in March of twenty eighteen in the journal Genome Research.

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<v Speaker 2>And what they found is, you know, the second and

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<v Speaker 2>probably most sad thing is that it was probably a

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<v Speaker 2>little baby girl who died in the womb.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, she was almost certainly still born. If she was

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<v Speaker 1>alive when she was born, she would not have lived

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<v Speaker 1>very long. And they like, if you haven't seen the

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<v Speaker 1>autocommon skeleton, that's probably a good time to go look

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<v Speaker 1>up a picture of her. But the reason she has

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<v Speaker 1>such an unusual appearance is because they attribute it to

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<v Speaker 1>the really like disproportionate number of genetic mutation she has.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, just one single genetic mutation can very easily

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<v Speaker 1>alter a person's appearance. She had multiple genetic mutations, and

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<v Speaker 1>they have no idea why, but they're like, well, this

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<v Speaker 1>explains basically everything.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and also it seemed like it was you know,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm pretty sure that it's a preterm birth. She's very

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<v Speaker 2>well preserved, so they're pretty sure that she's under five

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<v Speaker 2>hundred years old, and that's what I meant by fairly recent.

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<v Speaker 2>But they said they don't know, like she could have

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<v Speaker 2>died in the past, like thirty or forty years And

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<v Speaker 2>if that's true, then her parents might potentially still be around.

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<v Speaker 2>And we have this situation where there could be parents,

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<v Speaker 2>an even if there aren't, we have snatched this skeleton

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<v Speaker 2>from a tomb of this little girl who died prematurely

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<v Speaker 2>because of you know, issues like birth issues, and it's

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<v Speaker 2>like the saddest thing in the world.

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<v Speaker 1>And not only that, people around the world are saying,

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<v Speaker 1>like alien, look at this, obviously an alien. Yeah, it's like, no,

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<v Speaker 1>these are actually congenital genetic issues, not alien. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you put all this stuff together. You just hope that

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<v Speaker 1>the family is not aware of this. The thing that

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<v Speaker 1>stood out to me though, Chuck, is she died within

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<v Speaker 1>say forty years. That would put her in the eighties

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<v Speaker 1>the seventies, and the town where she was found, allegedly Lenoria,

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<v Speaker 1>was abandoned in the thirties, so I'm not sure what

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<v Speaker 1>she would be doing there, but I did see in

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of different places they're like, she could have

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<v Speaker 1>died quite recently.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, Yeah. Well, it was such a sort of outrage

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<v Speaker 2>after they found this out when that paper was published

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<v Speaker 2>in twenty eighteen that Chilean Society of Biological Anthropology and

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<v Speaker 2>the Chilean Association of Archaeologists both came out and were like,

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<v Speaker 2>this was a really unethical study. Shouldn't have done it.

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<v Speaker 2>It's against the law.

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<v Speaker 3>First of all.

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<v Speaker 2>Under the Chilean law, it's illegal to carry out archaeological,

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<v Speaker 2>anthropological or paleen to logical excavations without getting authorization from

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<v Speaker 2>the Council of National Monuments, which wasn't done.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a big one. They're also like, by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>give us our remains back, let's repatriator. And then a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of focus came on to Gary Nolan and his

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<v Speaker 1>group for even running this test in the first place,

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<v Speaker 1>and they they essentially understood. They're like, you know, you're right, this, this,

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<v Speaker 1>this whole jam is quite unethical. At least in our defense,

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<v Speaker 1>we did not handle the body. We've never seen the

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<v Speaker 1>body in person. We got a one millimeter a cubic

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<v Speaker 1>millimeter piece of bone to use as the sample, so

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<v Speaker 1>at least there's that. And yes, we believe that that

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<v Speaker 1>this baby's remain should be repatriated back to Chile. So

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<v Speaker 1>I don't, I don't. I don't know if they got

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<v Speaker 1>all the heat off of them, but at the very

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<v Speaker 1>least they were willing to acknowledge the ethical lapse on

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<v Speaker 1>their part for sure.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think that was a fairly stand up th

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<v Speaker 2>to do.

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<v Speaker 1>But the body is not back in Chile. It's still

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<v Speaker 1>in the possession of Ramon Navia Osorio in Spain. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>he's got it still. I don't know that he's making

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<v Speaker 1>any moves to give it back. And also I saw

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<v Speaker 1>Stephen Greer disputes the findings that it was human anything else,

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<v Speaker 1>just a that was a scoff if I've ever heard one. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>all right, love you. Chuck Short stuffs out.

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